How much credit goes to BIlly Taylor?
- Thread starter silasstarr
- Start date
It is a good question. We are better defensively this year. We are better in the post and much better at feeding the post. Does Taylor deserve credit for some of this? It would be a good question to ask Fran. I do know this: players really liked Francis.
I think being better in the post and feeding the post has more to do with Luka Garza being really good.
Taylor may well have been assigned upgrading the defense as a primary responsibility upon taking the position. As an offensive minded coach my guess Fran would never make that public and just make sure more attention gets devoted to that end of the floor behind the scenes.
Although it doesn't seem consistent we look like a different team on that end of the court this season. The forced shot clock violations stand out to me. I don't believe in coincidences so the arrival of Taylor may have something to do with it but we have no way of knowing one way or the other.
Although it doesn't seem consistent we look like a different team on that end of the court this season. The forced shot clock violations stand out to me. I don't believe in coincidences so the arrival of Taylor may have something to do with it but we have no way of knowing one way or the other.
The biggest change this year, as I've mentioned previously, is that we are seeing our centers switch onto guards less. We are comfortable switching 1-4, but our guards are actually fighting around and recovering instead of switching with Luka and/or Kriener. This has resulted in less significant mismatches, and kept Luka from picking up a bunch of ticky tack fouls trying to stay in front of driving guards.
We are better in adjusted defense efficiency year over year, but not sure if overall offense or defense is down this year across NCAA basketball. In conference-only games this year, Iowa is again last (tied with Northwestern) in adjusted defensive efficiency. I think this year's team is getting about the most out of its collective abilities. I don't know that I would credit one particular coach or point to 1-2 things Fran is doing differently. My own opinion -- Iowa has a great player, one who is really among the best 5-7 players in all of college hoops. Two other really efficient players, and a few other players who all are team players and will provide varying levels of scoring on a given night.
Francis was just so relatable. He was awesome with my then 8 year old. Hard to not feel a guy punch when he left but I did meet Taylor in 2013 in Atlantis, Bahamas and he is also super relatable and someone very easy to like. Fran gets a definite wash in the personality department. Both coaches are great with people. I think at least one can say Taylor brings a skill set that makes this OK.
This this this!
I love that our guards fight to get over screens more than they have in the past. There are still some games where they look lazy (probably tired) and don't get where they need to be but it is better than last year.
I know Francis was probably our best recruiter. Pretty sure he is the one who locked down Cook, our highest rated out of state player under Fran. I think his departure was part of the reason we lost out on every one of our main targets in the offseason.
Yet to be seen what kind of recruiting Taylor brings.
Wasn’t Sherman and Fran down with Cook when committed . Think it was around Cooks birthday
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